Episode 37
'''A Thing to Strive For '''is the 37th episode of the Hajime no Ippo anime, and it was released on June 19, 2001. Summary Ippo goes down, and the spectators notice that something strange happened. Date walks to his corner and tells his coach that he still needs to improve and that he feels bad for using Ippo as a test subject. As he looks back, Date is surprised to see Ippo standing and saying there has not been ten counts yet. The match resumes and they begin trading. In what appears to be an even exchange, Date launches the corkscrew again. Instead of covering his face, Ippo covers his body, but realises too late that the target was his heart. Being paralysed after the hit, Ippo takes a left and goes down again. As Date walks away, Ippo gets up and they continue the match until the third round. After the match, the gym members assume Date had an easy victory, and that the heart break shot was "over kill". Later in the shower however, it is revealed that Date can not wash his hair because his arms hurt from blocking Ippo's punches. While eating hamburgers with Yamada, Ippo reflects on his sparring match with Date. He notes how far apart they still are, and that it was a good lesson. Yamada tells him that he acts the way he does because he is constantly bullied. Ippo tells him a story of how he was bullied himself, and Yamada moved by this has even more admiration for him now. Back at the gym, Kimura tells Ippo that Date will be fighting for the world title if he wins a few more fights. Ippo says that he is not satisfied with that, as he wants it to be Date he fights for the the belt. Yagi interrupts them, to say that there is a challenge from the Nakadai Boxing Gym. Ippo's predecessor as the rookie king; Okita Keigo has requested a match. As Kamogawa thinks about it, Ippo asks without hesitation to let him fight. Yagi informs Kamogawa that if Ippo fights Okita, it must be within a month, as a replacement for a fighter that can not assist. Kamogawa, knowing that Ippo wants to fight Date, accepts after verifying his weight, and orders him to start training. Meanwhile at the Nakadai Boxing Gym, Nakadai informs Okita that Ippo accepted. Okita begins training, and Date asks why he asked for Ippo. Okita refuses to give any concrete reason, and Date warns him that Ippo is better than his rank says. Okita says he will not run by winning a decision and reveals he can perform the corkscrew as well. After leaving, Okita says to himself that he is fighting out of jealousy, as he can not stand the fact that being from the same class, as Date, he chose Ippo to use the heart break shot against. Inside of the Kourakuen Hall, both fighters are introduced as the crowd anticipates the bout between the former and the current rookie king. With Ippo fighting to challenge Date, and Okita betting his pride as a man, both fighters are motivated and charge at each other as soon as the bell rings. Before the referee can even get out of the way, both fighters exchange jabs. They both have the same thing in mind: set the pace for the match by landing the first hit. As they both dodge and block, Okita finds an opportunity to hit after stopping a punch. The punch however is stronger than he had anticipated, and it blows his guard away. He covers, both Ippo quickly strikes with a straight that sends him back. Ippo charges confident that Okita does not have a special punch like Sendou's, but is surprised when a corkscrew blows his guard away.Category:Anime Episodes Category:Season 1 Episodes